Chapter 94: There Is Nothing Wrong with a Man Taking a Concubine if He Has No Son

Chapter 94: Chapter 94: There Is Nothing Wrong with a Man Taking a Concubine if He Has No Son

Seeing that she already had a plan, Chen Minrou said no more. "If you’re going back because you can’t let go of Xie Jinbai and still want to be with him, then as much as I’d be annoyed at your lack of backbone, I’d still be happy that you can follow your heart."

"But if you’re being forced..."

Chen Minrou’s voice paused for a moment before she continued, "As long as you’re unwilling, Yaoyao, I will do everything in my power to help you."

With Xie Jinbai’s current power, the chances of him reaching the pinnacle were extremely high. No one could stand against him.

But while they couldn’t afford to provoke him, they could afford to hide.

As long as one was unwilling, there was always a way.

After all, she had already died once and even gotten a new body. What was the harm in living incognito for a while?

Cui Lingyao understood the meaning behind her words. Unwilling to disappoint her friend, she replied, "If there comes a day when I need your help, I won’t hesitate to ask."

Chen Minrou smiled in relief. Just as she was about to say more, Cui Lingyao continued, "If you want to help me, you first have to stay alive and well. Of all my old acquaintances, you’re the only one who knows my true identity. If something were to happen to you..."

Looking at her friend’s pale, sickly cheeks, Cui Lingyao sniffled. "Minmin, you wouldn’t have the heart to let me truly become a helpless orphan at the mercy of others, would you?"

Chen Minrou was at a loss for words.

She gave her a complicated look. "What are you talking about? Your parents and older brother love you dearly. If you were just willing to reveal..."

"It’s not the same," Cui Lingyao said, her expression turning serious. "If I want to hide and get away from Xie Jinbai, then naturally, the fewer people who know my identity, the better. If my parents get involved, it would be far too easy for Xie Jinbai to find out where I’ve gone."

As she spoke, she even started to believe it herself.

As if she were about to be forced by Xie Jinbai to flee to the ends of the earth, she said with utmost gravity, "Minmin, you have to stay alive."

Chen Minrou’s expression was complicated.

She looked at her with an expression that seemed to say, ’Am I really that important?’

Cui Lingyao nodded solemnly. "Right now, you’re the only one I can rely on."

Chen Minrou was once again at a loss for words.

Her throat felt dry, and she longed for a cup of tea to moisten it, but it was just the two of them. There were no servants in attendance, nor had any tea been prepared.

"I knew it..." Cui Lingyao pursed her lips. "You were just placating me. In reality, you’re afraid of getting into trouble. And you’re right to be. A man like Xie Jinbai... you would..."

"How could I be afraid of Xie Jinbai!" Chen Minrou patted her arm in irritation. "It’s just that with this body of mine, I don’t know how much longer I can hold on. But don’t worry. Before I... leave, I’ll definitely leave you with some useful people."

"What kind of talk is that?"

Hearing her say this, Cui Lingyao’s expression immediately darkened. "What’s really wrong with your body? Is it so bad that we’re talking about life and death?"

She didn’t believe it.

"You’ve always been healthy! Back when we were unmarried, you were strong enough to hunt wolves. How can you be so young and already beyond medical help, just waiting to die?"

"Would I lie to you about something like this?"

Chen Minrou gave a bitter smile. "It’s not like you don’t know. I had a difficult birth with my daughter. The Imperial Physician said that it would be difficult for me to have more children, and that I would likely never conceive again."

This, Cui Lingyao did indeed know.

She also knew how much pressure Chen Minrou had been under because of her inability to bear more children.

Zhao Shijie was the eldest son of the Zhao Family’s main line. At the age of seven, he had been officially designated the Princely Heir.

He was to inherit the ducal title of the Duke Mansion, so having heirs was of the utmost importance.

But Chen Minrou’s body had been damaged after giving birth. With only one daughter, she could no longer get pregnant.

How could the Zhao Family just sit by and do nothing?

Chen Minrou had just finished her month of postpartum confinement when the Duchess proposed that her son take a concubine.

She was, in all fairness, only considering the continuation of the main family line and wasn’t intentionally trying to make things difficult for her daughter-in-law. When she mentioned taking a concubine, she said Chen Minrou could choose the woman herself.

Regardless of background or looks, she could pick a few honest and docile concubines to enter the household to bear children—women who wouldn’t have any ulterior motives.

She even permitted the option of "keeping the child and discarding the mother."

Her mother-in-law considered herself magnanimous, but for Chen Minrou, it was still a bolt from the blue.

Fortunately, Zhao Shijie had been very reliable.

He vehemently rejected taking a concubine. Seeing the overwhelming pressure still bearing down on them and his wife growing more depressed by the day, he took action.

For this reason, he specifically requested an official assignment outside the Capital City, taking his wife with him to live in a world of their own.

On the day the couple left, Cui Lingyao had personally seen them off at the city gates.

At the time, she had been truly optimistic about the childhood sweethearts.

She believed their love was stronger than gold. If Zhao Shijie also had an Affection Meter, it would have been maxed out long ago.

And now, in just a few short years, things had come to this.

Chen Minrou smiled at her and patiently recounted the events of the past few years.

"After leaving the Capital City, the pressure to have an heir was just as great. We sought out doctors and remedies, hoping to restore my health, but there was never any good news. Then, before anything else, the news of your death arrived..."

"I couldn’t accept it. I wanted to rush back to the Capital City to ask Xie Jinbai why he did that to you. I also wanted to see you one last time, to send you off. But Zhao Shijie wouldn’t allow it. He said Xie Jinbai had gone mad, that anyone who mentioned you in his presence was courting disaster. He also said..."

Recalling the argument she’d had with her husband that day, Chen Minrou’s voice trailed off, becoming much softer.

"He said that Xie Jinbai wasn’t wrong, that he hadn’t betrayed his feelings, and that there was nothing wrong with a man taking a concubine if he had no son. He told me to calm down, saying the Zhao Family was already displeased with me. If I caused any more trouble, he was afraid even he wouldn’t be able to withstand the pressure."

Later, Zhao Shijie claimed it was just a slip of the tongue.

But to Chen Minrou, it sounded like he was threatening her with the prospect of him taking a concubine.

If she returned to the Capital City, he, unable to withstand the pressure, would have no choice but to compromise and take a concubine.

Wasn’t this, in its own way, a test?

"Do you know what I was thinking then?"

Chen Minrou looked at Cui Lingyao, her voice strained. "I wondered if he had wanted to take a concubine all along. While I was drinking bowl after bowl of medicine to regulate my body, hoping to conceive, he had already been entertaining the idea. I thought perhaps he was only holding back because he’d promised he would never have another woman and didn’t want to break his word. So he was waiting for me to bring it up first, so he could just go along with it... Who knew I’d be so tactless as to not only refuse but also try to cause him trouble? He finally couldn’t control himself anymore and blurted out that warning."

That was a thorn.

A sharp thorn, buried deep in Chen Minrou’s heart.

It made her unable to ever again trust the man who slept beside her without reservation.

She began to doubt whether the things she had believed to be deep-rooted and unshakable even existed at all.

Not long after, Zhao Shijie, noticing his wife’s coldness, apologized to her.

But Chen Minrou only felt that the man before her was not the same person he once was. She couldn’t be as intimate with him as before.

After that, the affection between them gradually faded.

Her best friend’s sudden death and her husband’s transformation sent Chen Minrou into a state of melancholy.

Later, even when she found out she was pregnant, she couldn’t muster much joy. Zhao Shijie, on the other hand, was ecstatic, holding her so tightly he nearly wept, but she remained completely unmoved.

Even though she knew perfectly well that Zhao Shijie had tried to make up for that one sentence countless times, going to extreme lengths to be careful and attentive.

’I should have taken the olive branch, forgiven him, and repaired our relationship. After all, the issue of an heir no longer existed. If I could just let go of my resentment, we could still grow old together.’

Even the tongue and teeth clash sometimes, to say nothing of a husband and wife who live together day in and day out.